Earth, Wind and Bucky
by simplesonnets
Summary: Darcy steps in when Bucky refuses to listen to Sam's impeccable music choices.


Weeks ago, Darcy had been walking through a cafeteria in Stark Tower looking for Jane's favorite dark chocolate creamer when she spotted Sam Wilson seated at a table on the far side of the room. Sam wasn't the team therapist by any means, but he did understand the other Avengers in ways that many others in S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't. It wasn't often that Sam left DC for extended periods of time, but when he was at Stark Tower there was a sudden sense of calm and order felt throughout the area, even in the normally chaotic labs where Darcy spent most of her time. With that in mind, Darcy was quite surprised to see him surrounded by various papers that were crumpled, folded and neatly stacked, scrolling through his iPod with a look that would break anyone's heart. Taking a moment to measure Jane's crazy levels, Darcy had decided that her boss could wait a few moments longer for her recharge and went over to check up on Sam.

When she asked what was wrong he replied, "My friend won't listen to September! Every high school band in the country plays that song and it's been in no less than 50 different movies and tv shows, yet he refuses a full listen through of September. It's almost like a backup national anthem. Its Earth, Wind and Fire... I'm just..."

"Really passionate about Earth, Wind and Fire and your friend is a total scrub? Dude, I get it, I'm the same way about the Doors."

Sam sighed and gestured for her to sit next to him. "Oh, I don't think I've had a chance to tell you about it, but I got to know Bucky Barnes not too long ago. It's been pretty okay since we got past the whole trashing my car and attempting to kill me thing. I managed to hook him up with a therapist that a lot of the other vets recommended and some other resources. Hell, I even hang out with him and Steve whenever they're in DC. He's gotten a lot better you know, even the baristas at the coffee shop around the corner from the VA check him out from time to time," he chuckled and shuffled some papers around.

"So you're helping through music therapy?" Darcy asked, slightly confused by the papers. Albums, movie scores, and issues of various magazines were scrawled in Sam's neat hand writing on the legal pad papers spread around him.

"Well the music is a part of it, but not the most important part. I mainly did what I usually do with other veterans in the group talks, albeit with some slight modifications. I'm not going to lie, there were some difficulties but he's turned out to be better than some people expected," he explained to her and Darcy could only imagine just how difficult it must have been.

"That's awesome. You're like his fairy godmother. Except, instead of giving him glass shoes you give him cool points," Darcy told him with a grin.

"Sometimes I wish it was as simple as waving a wand. When it comes to popular culture and historical events, he's pretty much in the same boat as Steve," Sam sighed as he unfolded some papers.

"He's in an 'up a creek, around the bend, and on the edge of falling over the waterfall without a paddle' kind of boat?" She could only imagine how much worse he could be than Steve.

Sam thought for a moment. "He's over the waterfall and the boat is on fire."

"I figured." Darcy was pretty sure Steve wasn't taking Bucky's reluctance to modernize well with Steve's time in a similar boat. Sam was truly a fairy godmother if he could deal with both of the grumpy geezers on a regular basis.

"He won't even listen to the music I try to play for him. For example, when we're in the car he pops in some high tech earbuds Dr. Banner developed with Tony," Sam told Darcy as he propped his elbows on the table and set his iPod down in front of her. "He's not only tuning out the music, he's avoiding television, magazines, and books. He leaves the room when we turn on the tv and won't even touch any of the stuff we give him to read. It's getting to a point where he won't even take part in a conversation about any form of media."

"So, let me get this straight, he's clearly taking steps to rehabilitate and recover, right? Yet he refuses to take in any form of media produced after his capture by HYDRA? Well, he does have a good 70 years to catch up on... Maybe it's overwhelming him and he's afraid to admit it or it might be a pride thing? Wasn't Bucky Barnes supposed to be the big man of the group before Steve got shot up with the serum?" Darcy paused for a moment, thinking things over. "Back then he would have been the most up to date on pop culture and general knowledge and been the one informing Steve of the latest and greatest. Only now, it's Steve, just a few years after his defrost, with a greater understanding of the world than Bucky."

Sam rubbed a hand on the back of his neck as he considered her words. "I know it's all of that and so much more, but who can help him better than his friends?" Sam asked her as he shoved his papers into an accordion folder. "He needs to make another friend."

"Maybe one that's working on a Master's degree in political science who also happens to have an extensive knowledge of pop culture and an exquisite taste in music?" Darcy smirked and gently bumped into him with her shoulder.

"Perhaps he does," Sam grinned.

With Steve's blessing, Darcy found herself outside of Bucky Barnes' apartment on a bright and mild Saturday morning. Her knuckles had barely grazed the door before it swung open to reveal Bucky Barnes. A cleaned up, well shaven Bucky Barnes looked really good. Like, 'is this man a 1940s Bucky Barnes hologram' good. Like, 'Darcy is a little surprised that he managed to look so put together after such a short amount of time rehabbing and she really regrets the grunge band jokes she unwittingly made around Steve last week' good. His haircut was reminiscent of his style from the 1940s with an updated hint of intentional ruffling here and there. From his white three-quarters sleeve t-shirt to his dark denim jeans and brown chukka boots, he looked like he could be any other guy walking around Manhattan at that very moment, even with the metal arm. Darcy was suddenly all too aware of how sweaty her hands were and how tight his sleeve looked against his biceps. She wondered if she might have just Scooby-Doo'd her way into a little more than she could handle. Playing sassy tutor to a brooding overgrown troll doll would have been easy but this- this she was slightly unprepared for.

"So you're supposed to teach me something, huh?" He asked her, his voice deep but skeptical with his smile looking a little strained.

He held out his flesh hand for her to shake and she grips it just as hard as she would any other and introduced herself, "Darcy Lewis, you know, Sam's friend."

"And yeah, but I can only do that if you let me," she told Bucky as she walked towards his sitting room. He may not have been all too excited to have her there, but his roving blue eyes seemed to at least appreciative the view. And she couldn't fault him really; she did look pretty dang good today. Her jeans were comfy yet stylish, the cream in her floral blouse didn't clash horribly with her complexion, and her open front forest green cardigan was looking extra soft today. If Bucky wasn't enticed by the words coming out of Darcy's mouth, then maybe he could come for the view and stick around for the lessons.

"Now, who said I didn't want you to teach me, Ms. Lewis?" Bucky called after her as he followed her into the room. There Darcy saw Sam sitting on a brown cloth couch, scribbling on his legal pad with Steve sitting to his right, alternating between flipping through his mole skin journal and searching through a large purple bin placed on the floor in front of him.

"Oh, I probably said that," Sam answered back not even bothering to look up, "you won't even listen to September. I had to bring out the big guns. Hello, Darcy."

"Hey, Sam, nice chucks. Oh, I love the new khakis, Mr. Rogers." She said to them. Steve said a quick 'hello' back to her, clearly taken by the contents of the bin and his journal.

"So what's up with the ban on September?" Darcy asked Bucky, genuinely curious as to why he wouldn't even listen to the song. Sam wasn't asking for a written critique, let alone for him to like it; he just wanted Bucky to just listen to it once. Hell, listen to anything once.

"Why don't you go ahead and tell me why you think that song is so special?" Bucky asked her, countering her question with one of his own.

"What is this? 20 questions? Okay, it's a fun song with easy lyrics. You won't be able to forget the song, ever. People play it at all sorts of fun events like barbeques and other get-togethers, it's a song that plays through a lot of your favorite memories. It's a song that you hum along to while you're waiting to flip out on customer service at three in the morning. It's a song you play during your first band recital that you don't completely suck at and your parents are really proud of you for just trying to play it."

"Okay," he told her, smiling faintly.

"Okay? Okay!? How was that any different from me asking?" Sam questioned Bucky while Steve put down his journal and looked over to Darcy and Bucky, who shrugged and sat on the loveseat that Darcy was standing next to. She fiddled with the remote until the music video was brought up onto the TV.

"I haven't seen this video in forever so I have no clue- Oh my god the special effects!" Darcy yelled and Sam let out a startled laugh. Steve chuckled and set aside his journal to watch the video while Bucky smirked. Mid-way through the song, Sam and Darcy got up to dance and sing along.

"I can't believe Tony never plays anything like this at his parties," Darcy laughed as Sam spun her, "I'd actually be willing to stick around if he did."

"Tony? Play anything that you wouldn't listen to in the red hot Porsche of a billionaire going through a midlife crisis? Ha! You are too much Darcy." Sam spun her back to him.

"I really do wish he would play something other than AC/DC for me whenever we're in the same room," Steve chimed in, bobbing his head to the beat. Sam spun Darcy around one last time before they both breathlessly flopped on to the couch on either side of Steve, laughing and clutch their sides until the song ended.

"So, how did you like the song, Mr. Barnes?" Darcy asked between gasps. She adjusted her glasses and leaned on the arm of the couch, waiting for his response while Steve and Sam not so stealthily looked at them out the corners of their eyes.

Bucky, reclined in the section of the loveseat closest to Darcy, laughed and looked down at his lap. His metal hand laying on the armrest played with a stray string while his other hand tapped out a beat on his thigh. "It was pretty nice. Do you guys have anything else like it?" Bucky smiled so widely that the skin around his eyes crinkled, causing the bags around them to lift and for a moment Darcy wondered if this is what a new, happy Bucky looks like. This was too heavy, too murky of a smile for pre-Winter Soldier James Buchanan Barnes, but for this Bucky that had survived all of what he'd been through? For the Bucky that had been fighting tooth and nail for his life and freedom? This smile was bright enough light up the sky for everyone that'd been rooting for him. Darcy hoped that whatever the hell she was attempting to do here might be able to help him out a little.

Darcy glanced down the legal pad sitting on the coffee table. "We've got plenty of that and much more, Mr. Barnes."

"Speaking of trying new things, have you ever had a cup of coffee with butter in it?"


End file.
